MMMmmm Drop!

Kanye vs. 50 Cent aren't the only highlights of today's releases.

The last time a Tuesday fell on 9/11 was in 2001. The unforgettable events that unfolded that day, for obvious reasons, affected the first-week sales of most of the records that were released that day, including Jay-Z's Blueprint, Slayer's God Hates Us All, and System of the Down's Toxicity (I don't even want to begin going into The Coup's Party Music). To bring you out of the 9/11 doldrums, some of the year's hotly anticipated releases hit store shelves today. Make sure your credit card isn't already maxed out.

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Kanye West

Graduation

Kayne finds Daft Punk and finally finishes college with slick, synthetic techno hip-hop. He and 50 Cent have conceived a brilliant publicity stunt of out-selling one another, determining who is forced into early-retirement first. I'm calling a bluff on both parties - either way they're going to rake in more money than they know what to do with.

See him next: Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

50 CentCurtis

50 got rich, but he didn't die trying (in fact he got rich off of the eight bullet holes that sold his street-life hustler story to the masses). Curtis finds 50 Cent retreading a lot of the familiar braggadocio, G-Unit hustle and confrontations of past albums. Whatever.

See him next: Tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

ModeselektorHappy Birthday!

Easily my favorite dance record of the year, featuring vocal contributions from Thom Yorke, Maximo Park, and French rappers TTC, among others. This keeps your head turning with plenty of "WTF? This is awesome!" moments.

See them next: Friday, October 19 at Chop Suey.

Animal CollectiveStrawberry Jam

It's looking like a majority of my Top Ten Records of 2007 are all coming out on the same day. Animal Collective's huge follow-up to 2005's Feels, treads deeper into the uncharted territories of the band's folky psych-pop landscape, and it just keeps getting better and weirder.

See them next: THIS FRIDAY AT NEUMO'S!

Black Lips

Good Bad Not Evil

Fuck it! What else can I say? Today absolutely rules! I've been listening to this non-stop to for the past few weeks. These Atlanta doo-wop flower-punks have struck gold on the tracks, "O Katrina!," "Navajo," "How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died" and "Cold Hands." Seriously, this record is AMAZINGLY FUN!